Success is all about the right mindset, as these tips will hopefully prove.

August 23, 2019 7 min read

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Change of any kind starts internally, within the mind. If you want to alter your life, whether in big or small ways, you first have to adapt your mindset. The best way to liberate yourself from old ways of thinking is to shift your perspective on situations and become more innovative in your approaches.

If you’re ready to change and enhance your life, here are eight important mental shifts you should make immediately.

1. The mindset to live with intention

Most people don’t wander through life, haphazardly finding employment and forming relationships, without any real sense of what their potential is or what they are hoping to do with their life. If you want to live your best life, you have to act with intention and be willing to sustain your effort and motivation over the long haul. You have to believe you have it in you to create your best life. In everything you do, ask yourself: Does this help me build the kind of life I want to live? Once you make this shift, you will be empowered to pull yourself away from things that pointlessly suck your time, energy and finances. Focus on what you need to do to create your best reality and start living happily and prosperously.

2. Own your power

Everyone has a source of inner power that fuels them. It’s the strength you draw from to overcome obstacles. But most of us aren’t really aware of what makes us powerful or how we can wield our abilities most effectively. The problem is that we don’t tend to see ourselves as capable, dynamic, forceful or influential. We dwell on our faults and mistakes, and this diminishes us. Eventually, we let our power slip away.

Spend some time reconnecting with yourself and acknowledging your limiting beliefs. What if you banished them? Own your power by understanding what lights you up. What gives you a thrill? What do you feel passionate about? Hold on to those things. Continually envision yourself as the badass you know you are.

3. Focus on quality over quantity

Learn to keep things simple by focusing on quality over quantity. By doing this, you’ll ultimately get more bang for your buck. This mental shift keeps you concentrated on using your resources wisely, so you’ll carefully and thoughtfully guard your time, money and mental and physical energy. Quality has more to do with depth, such as ensuring a task or goal is entirely completed, which usually leads to better results. For example, if you’re selective about who you hire, you’ll get quality workers who are a better fit with your business and your team.

By being thoughtful about what projects you undertake, you’ll focus on areas that you have expertise in; this is where you will naturally thrive and excel. Thus, you have a better chance of not only standing out for your exceptional work but also building your reputation and continuing to propel your business as a whole.

4. Give value to others and stop being self-centered

Helping others isn’t just a nice thing to do. When you help others, you also gain in return. After all, while giving leads to getting, more importantly, it leads to personal growth and feeling good. The first step in giving value to others is to stop being self-centered. Practice taking a real interest in others, and be authentic in your dealings with other people. Recognize that it’s not all about you. Stop focusing so much on how people react toward you, and you’ll stop taking things so personally. This will allow you to stop reacting — and overreacting — to things.

Nothing is as mind-broadening as allowing yourself to really see the world from another person’s perspective. When you focus on the value you give to others, you start seeing other people’s needs more clearly.

5. Understand your worth

Nothing will cast you in a negative light faster than a “woe is me” mentality. People see you through the lens of how you project yourself. The energy, confidence and attitude you bring with you are key in projecting yourself as someone who is self-assured and upbeat. As such, never underestimate your value and worth. This isn’t just about your credentials, education and experience (though those things are great). Rather, it’s about your ability to show the world how awesome you are in your everyday dealings with others.

Every interaction is a chance to show exactly what you have to bring to the table, and exactly why you stand out from the rest. You have to appreciate and fully utilize every bit of your talent and mojo. Find your inner grit, hone your savvy and embrace your worth. Be in control of you.

6. Think and act big

Great success comes when you’re inspired and go after what you want. But, like most things in life, there are levels to this. You may feel inspired but too scared to fully embrace your passion. You may be heading in the right direction, but are too reserved. If that’s the case, even if you manage to attain your goal, you’ll never feel the sense of triumph you might have with more fearlessness.

Stop being “business as usual.” Step one: Banish the phrase “We’ve never done it like this before.” Instead, ask yourself how you can act bigger. How can you go beyond? What is the next level you’re hoping to reach? That is where you’re aiming. Stop allowing old patterns of thoughts, fears and archaic beliefs to hold you back. Embrace bigger thinking.

7. See failure as a necessary step toward success

Failure is an absolute necessity for success, but the trick is that failure is also all about how you frame it. Instead of seeing it as a fault you can never live down, recognize that failure isn’t personal. Your approach failed, and mistakes were made. You, as a person, didn’t fail. Don’t allow your ego to blind you to the lessons you need to learn. Analyze the problem that led to the mistake. Where did you go wrong? Allow yourself to fine-tune a problem and see how it can be fixed. What path could you have taken to get a different result? Learn how not to make those same mistakes again. Most importantly, learn to move on.

8. Focus on your “why.”

Take a moment and ask yourself: “Why do I do what I do?” Understanding your “why” will inform your purpose and help you tap into your deeper motivations. This is key to understanding how to achieve the things you really want in life. Why do you focus on the things you do? At the end of the day, are you fulfilled by what you’re doing? Is your focus leading to success you feel good about? If not, you don’t have the right “why.”

When you’re feeling lost in the weeds, uncertain about the next steps to take in business or in life, you can always come back to the “why.” It will act as an internal compass, always pointing to your own due north.